Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Incorporating the teaching of multiculturalism in the daily curriculum is not only important - it can be pretty easy to do!

Two weeks ago, my Head Start class spent time focusing on letter L as our letter of the week. Typically our activities feature math, science, nutrition and literacy activities that relate to the letter. Letter L seemed to be the perfect time to introduce my little ones (4&5 year olds) to the craft of Chinese paper lanterns. With the help of Creative Diversity, my students were able to explore a bit about the Chinese culture in a cross-curricular approach, through the use of their Asian Cultural Celebration Bag!

First, we read Paper Lanterns by Stefan Czernecki. Children sat relatively quietly, very interested in the bold, engaging pictures and discussing the text as it was read. The story was a bit lengthy and at times I felt as though I was "losing" them... however, I was able to keep them focused and we were able to finish out the story!

Old Chen, an elderly crafter of paper lanterns is ready to retire and pass on his craft to someone else, but is unsure of who to pass the tradition to. His two employees excel at other aspects of the crafting of paper lanterns, but they just don't have what it takes to construct the beautiful pieces of work. A little boy suddenly appears, interested and eager to learn. However, Old Chen feels he is much to young to be able to construct the lanterns. The little boy watches intently and practices for hours on end at home, hoping to perfect his own abilities and eventually the opportunity presents itself in which the little boy, known as Little Mouse, is able to show off his abilities to Old Chen, surprising the elderly man and convincing him that Little Mouse must be the one to take over the construction of the paper lanterns.

Upon finishing the story, I pulled children into the activity of decorating the paper lanterns by telling them that they were going to have their hand an being "Little Mouse." Boy, were they ever excited... they thought it was going to be so cool to decorate a fancy lantern like the dragon in the book! We quickly broke into our small groups, and I quickly made a sample lantern so they had some idea of how it would turn out or what kind of approach they could use. Some of the children were all about carefully coloring/designing their lanterns... others just couldn't wait to be done and on to work time (our version of center-based play).

The lanterns turned out amazing, as you'll see in the photograph below. It was definitely a great activity and way to learn a little about Chinese culture (and a perfect photo prop for our end-of-the-year photo shoot)! I will say they were very time consuming to put together. About half of the children were able to manipulate their fine-motor skills to tear the perforations without tearing the tops and bottoms of the outer lantern sphere. The perforating of the lantern spheres of the other half fell into the hands of myself, my assistant and my aide. We quickly were able to get these done, only to find out that the inner globe didn't quite fit inside the outer sphere when put together and we had to modify the construction of the lantern to move things along for our active bunch. Eventually we gave up trying to get them to help and sent them on their way to work time, finishing up the lanterns on our own! If we were to do this project again, we'd definitely just have the kids do the coloring and we'd do the constructing on our own time, instead of hoping that the children could help out! Needless to say, we were very impressed with how they turned out and were very excited about using them as photo props (seen below)!

The following day, for our small group time, we decided to spend a bit more time learning about Chinese culture, in preparation of getting the photo shoot set-up appropriately! Our classroom had previously acquired a copy of the Our World series and one of the titles was A Look at China.

Frost, Helen.A Look at China (Our World Series).2000.Capstone Press.Provided by school resource library.Repetitive wording and phrasing allows young readers to engage fully in the reading while also learning about a new culture. A Look at China introduces children in a simplistic manner to the Great Wall of China, a small bit of Chinese language (hello, goodbye), Chinese New Year, weather, landscapes, population, modes of transportation, nutrition, currency and dress. Coupled with the photographs, children will gain a basic understanding of a lifestyle different than their own and will likely find an urge to learn more!

After reading A Look at China, children were given the opportunity to explore some Asian play food (sent with the Asian Cultural Celebration Bag) which we had placed in our House Area. It was a huge hit and had I been smart enough, I would have ordered some real Chinese food for sampling that day! While they were playing and exploring, we set up our photo shoot in the quiet area (including the Children's Chinese Festival poster) that came with the bag. We then had the students take turns posing as "Chinese children," dressed in their kimonos (also found in the bag), holding their homemade lantern and their choice of the Chinese dragon or the Chinese puppet (you'll find photos of both below)! Can you say hit? You should have seen the smiles - absolutely perfect for the end-of-the-year gifts we're putting together for parents!!!

Also provided in the bag was a copy of Kathy Tucker's The Seven Chinese Sisters, which was a huge hit! The kids loved it and several even asked for me to read it again a few days later! If you coupled it with Margaret Mahy's The Seven Chinese Brothers, you could have quite an interesting conversation on the similarities and differences of the two and find some pretty excited children in the process!

Each of the seven Chinese sisters has a talent unique to themselves. Upon discovering that the youngest has been taken away by a hungry dragon, the other six must work together to help their sister, putting aside all differences and joining together as a unified force, each offering her unique talent to outwit the dragon.

The multicultural dramatic play materials were a huge hit in our class and I've decided I'm going to try and get a hold of more of them for my classroom for next year - through a school order or perhaps purchasing on my own. The craft activity (lanterns) were a hit with some of the children but also equally disliked by others (keep in mind I do have a VERY active class that sits still for such an activity very seldom) - given a few modifications (as mentioned above) the lanterns would have been a hit with everyone! The cultural celebration bags are definitely worth the investment, especially if you're looking to increase an awareness of cultural differences in your program/classroom!

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

The Greedy Sparrow teaches (older) children an importance lesson about how greed may come back to haunt you. A sparrow starts out asking for a simple favor. However, his simple favor quickly turns into asking for more and more to see just what he can gain. Just when the sparrow thinks he's hit it big, he gets his "pay back," winding up with nothing more than he started with.

The story is more appropriate for older children, as the concept may be harder for young children to understand - perhaps because of the unfamiliar "gifts" in which the sparrow is greedy about. However, if you're creative, you could adapt the story for younger children by changing out the "things" that the sparrow is requesting. As I said... you would have to be creative in doing this appropriately and I'm not sure I have it in me, quite frankly, so I think I'll leave this one to the older children!

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

Kristi Yamaguchi, artist, author, athlete, wife, mother and philanthropist reaches out to children in her picture book, Dream Big Little Pig!. This wonderful book will encourage children to reach for their dreams, no matter how big and to be persistent in doing so. As would be appropriate from an Olympic Champion figure skater, the hero of the book, Little Pig, finds her calling and fulfills her dream as a ice skater, though not before trying out a few other dreams in the process.

A portion of the profits from sales of Dream Big Little Pig! will go to support Yamaguchi's Always Dream foundation and the collaborative early childhood literacy initiative sponsored by the foundation. Below, you will find a brief summary about the foundation and it's purposes:

...whose sole purpose would be to inspire and embrace the hopes and dreams of children.

Through my Always Dream Foundation, I simply hope to help children fulfill their dreams...

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

About Me

About the Blog

I am a Head Start teacher by day and a reader during any/all free time. Being a teacher I am always looking for children's books and products to use in the classroom.

This blog is going to provide parents and educators with books, products and a variety of educational activities to share with preschool and early elementary aged children (ages 3-7). Feel free to steal the ideas for your own classroom/homeschool, reading group, library or children!

Reviews

I am very interested in receiving copies of children's books and educational products for review. If you have a book or product that you are willing to send for review, please email me for contact information at kateh12783@hotmail.com.